Chapter 2: Dream

The next morning…

Ren washed his face thoroughly with water. As he straightened his back and looked at himself in the mirror, he could see the bandage sitting across his face in a slant. She gave him this wound during their battle. It was another insecurity he had to live with, but one he couldn't hide. He could feel the wound had healed up underneath the bandage. It was time to remove it. He left his room to find a medical droid.

After Ren gave orders to the medical droid to remove the bandage. He sat still in the chair, eyes closed, and allowed the medical droid to get to work. Within a couple of minutes, his surroundings went silent and he couldn't hear the medical droid buzzing. He held his hand up to stop the medical droid from working. As he opened his eyes and looked around, he could see her sitting across from him! The same girl he saw the night before. Only this time, her clothes looked different. She no longer adorned her Scavenger clothing, instead she was dressed in a more modern outfit. It looked like she had just woken up from her sleep, but her eyes were still closed. After scratching her eyes, she opened both and her head quickly turned to his direction. Ren's heart began pounding fast. She can see him! Ren quickly stood up from his chair and began walking towards her. The girl quickly stood up as well but raised her hand to motion him to stop approaching.

"Don't come any closer," she said cautiously.

"Who are you?" Ren asked suspiciously.

She hesitated and lowered her hand. Her eyes began to appear saddened. She avoided his eye contact and looked to the floor. A few tears fell from her eyes.

"You don't remember," she said with a hard swallow.

"Remember what?" Ren replied confused.

Before he could ask more questions, he could feel tears swell up in his eyes. He gasped; unaware this would happen again. The girl noticed this as she looked at him once more.

"Is this your doing?" Ren questioned feeling frustrated.

"No," the girl responded. Even she was at a loss for words.

The warm feeling Ren felt from the night before returned. It calmed his nerves and his frustrations a little, but he was still confused. He began to sniffle.

"What's your name? At least tell me that," Ren asked calmly.

The girl took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

"My name is Rey," she answered softly.

"I…" Ren began, "I've missed you."

Ren quickly covered his mouth in shock. He didn't know he would speak those words, but they came right out of his mouth naturally.

Rey's eyes widened in surprise.

"Ben?" she whispered.

She knows my name?! Ren panicked as he took a couple steps back.

"Ben! Please, you have to remember!" Rey begged, "Remember all those times we spent together in our dreams!"

Dreams? Ren wondered as he continued walking back away from her.

"Ben! Don't leave!" Rey urged as she tried to stand and walk towards him.

But as Ren continued, he felt something cold touch his back. Rey instantly disappeared and the medical room walls appeared. Ren turned around and noticed he had bumped into the medical droid that was assisting him earlier. He did his best to catch his breath from the sudden shock. The medical droid floated over to him and carefully removed the last piece of the bandage from his face. It beeped to let him know its job was done. He nodded to the droid and waved for it to go.

Ren entered his room and wondered if he should inform Snoke of his sudden encounter with Rey. But in his first instinct, he began to feel cautious of the matter. Maybe keeping this as a secret from Snoke would be best.

Ren began to pace about in his room, trying to remember what Rey said earlier. She called him by his real name and spoke about meeting in dreams. But how as that possible? Was it due to the Force? There was no such thing. But it wasn't impossible either. What would happen if he tried to dream of her? Would they meet somewhere privately?

As the late-night hours drew near, Ren removed his clothing till he was down to his underwear. He decided to get ready for bed and attempt a dream to see Rey. He was curious and he wanted to know if what she had said was true. After making himself comfortable in his sheets, he did his best to calm himself and relax. Slowly, but surely, he could feel himself drop into sleep.

Ren opened his eyes and found himself sitting in the middle of a vast dessert. It was night and there were millions of stars in the sky. He looked down and found himself sitting on top of an AT-AT.

"You did it!" he heard a female voice exclaim behind him.

Ren turned around and saw Rey standing next to the AT-AT feet. She was adorned in her Scavenger clothing.

"It worked," Ren whispered in a slight awe.

Rey gave a smile in return. She climbed up the AT-AT and took a seat right next to him.

"Ben," Rey began, "Do you remember anything now? Do you recognize this place?"

Ren looked away from her and took a glance at the landscape that surrounded them. He tried to recall if anything looked familiar, but it all appeared new to him.

"No," Ren replied flatly. As he looked back at her, he could see the continued disappointment in her eyes from earlier.

She curled up, hugging her legs close to her chest. She gave a small sigh as she continued looking out into the distance. Ren didn't know how to respond. There was a slight pause between them, but then he came up with a question.

"Are you using the Force to connect our dreams together?" Ren asked curiously, "how are you that powerful?"

"It's not me, I'm not that powerful. But it could be the Force allowing us to meet," Rey replied carefully.

"But why us?" Ren questioned again.

"I wanted to see you again Ben," Rey admitted.

The first couple of times she called him "Ben", he initially dismissed hearing it. But the more she continued associating him with that name, he recalled the same words Snoke spat at him in the Throne Room.

You have too much of your father's heart

He didn't want to be reminded of his weaknesses.

"Stop calling me by that name," Ren responded with frustration as he avoided eye contact with Rey, "he's dead."

"But that's your name," Rey quickly replied, "You didn't mind it before. How is it any different now?"

"I'm not weak," Ren stated as he stood up and slid off the AT-AT. He began to walk away from her.

"Ben! Don't leave!" Rey begged as she slid off the AT-AT and ran after him.

She grabbed his arm and pulled for him to stop. Ren instantly pulled his arm away from her.

"Ben is dead," Ren answered coldly as he looked back at her, "whoever you knew before, he's not coming back."

Ren turned around and continued walking away from Rey. He didn't have the heart to look back at her again. Although he could admit in his mind what he was doing was right, deep within his heart, he was regretting every step he took. This must be Ben reacting to whole thing and Ren continued fighting against him.

~to be continued...